Tributes have been paid to journalist and valued Farmers Guardian contributor Bruce Jobson who died on November 20.
Bruce passed away in Quebec, Canada after travelling to attend the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair 2025 in Toronto.
Announcing his death on social media, his family described Bruce as ‘formidable’ and someone of many talents.
“Bruce was very well known throughout the world for his contributions to agriculture – journalism, political commentary and to sport – especially football, with Trident Soccer.
“His contributions to the dairy cattle breeding industry as he formed a ‘dynamic duo’ with Drew Sloan OBE to become leading figures in dairy breeding.
“Bruce enjoyed appearing on GB News to discuss and debate the events of the day and did so with confidence and professionalism. His friendship with GB News broadcaster Dougie Beattie meant a lot to him.
“Above all, Bruce was a loving and caring husband to his beloved wife Helen, a devoted father to sons Ryan and Shaun, a loving grandfather to grandsons Brody and Bowie and to his daughter-in-law Natasha.
“He loved his faithful dog Bella and the late Marley who brought so much enjoyment to his life.”
FG editorial director Olivia Midgley said: “Everyone at Farmers Guardian is saddened to hear the news of Bruce’s passing.
“Bruce was a highly valued contributor to Farmers Guardian and its sister publication Dairy Farmer and provided unique insights into farming around the world on FG’s Global Ag View pages.
“We would like to pass on our sincere condolences to his wife Helen and his family we know meant so much to him.”
Bruce’s funeral will be arranged according to his wishes, strictly private and close family only.
Details on how all his many friends can share in the celebration of Bruce’s life will be announced in due course.
OBITUARY written by Ryan Jobson and Pippa Sellwood, on behalf of the Jobson family
Bruce Jobson
8th February 1954 to 20th November 2025
Agricultural journalist, Bruce Jobson, was well known for his knowledge of the worldwide cattle breeding industry, particularly the fast-moving discipline of genetic evaluations. Later in life he also wrote about the economic pressures facing British agriculture and food security in his “Farmageddon” series, and he was a regular contributor to national and regional titles in the farming press. Over the past five years Brue was a researcher and commentator on farming topics for the broadcaster GB News.
Born in 1954 to parents Will and Doris in Warkworth, Northumberland, Bruce Henry Jobson was their second son. In his early years he lived on one of the family’s farms in South Broomhill. The Jobson family’s farming business, trading as J Jobson and Sons, also owned Hope Farm, Amble, near Morpeth.
Bruce was first educated locally in Broomhill and then at two schools founded by The Society of Friends (or Quakers) which Bruce firmly believed gave him a unique education. The first of these was Brookfield School, an independent boarding school also known as Wigton School or Friends’ School, situated on the outskirts of Wigton, Cumbria. He completed his school days near Wetherby, Yorkshire at Wennington School, a progressive, co-educational boarding school, founded by the Quaker educationalist Kenneth C Barnes.
Bruce possessed considerable sporting prowess, excelling at football and, in particular, at cricket at school. Yorkshire County Cricket Club was keen to recruit him, but unfortunately at the time only youths born in Yorkshire were eligible to join this professional club. Academically, Bruce particularly enjoyed studying Keynesian economics and developed impressive analytical skills. The latter led to him being offered an opportunity to work in diplomacy for a government agency in London. However, Bruce decided instead to return to his farming roots, studying at Kirkley Hall Agricultural College, Ponteland, Northumberland, before joining the Jobson family’s farming business, working alongside his father and elder brother, George.
Extending to around 700 acres, the farms included arable cropping, vegetables, sheep, and egg production. The dairy herd was, however, the main enterprise – and the one that would lead on to Bruce’s specialism as a journalist. At its peak Hope Farm Holsteins numbered around 200 cows and became well-known as the result of some notable successes in the show-ring, including at the Royal Show and the European Dairy Farming Event.
The Jobsons were among the first British dairy farmers to make use of North American Holstein bloodlines, particularly those from Canada. A famous addition to their herd was Canadian import Pine Ridge Acres Lola, bred by Herbert Simpson and Son, Stouffville, Ontario. Lola became the UK’s highest yielding dairy cow and the Guinness Book of World Records holder, producing 18,307kg in a single lactation. She won the “UK’s Milkiest Cow” accolade four times over her lifetime, as well as producing 12 registered daughters, mostly via embryo transfer. Lola was also used as the guide for the TrueType Model Cow produced for the British Holstein Society by sculptor John Harper.
To broaden his knowledge of cattle breeding, Bruce travelled to Canada and the USA on many occasions to visit farms, bull studs and some of the highest profile cattle shows.
He formed many contacts within the global cattle breeding industry and began writing articles for the farming press both in the UK and internationally. Bruce’s detailed understanding of genetic evaluations, coupled with his perspective as a dairy farmer and “end user” enabled him to give other farmers a unique insight. He was a formidable analyst and not afraid to challenge evaluation systems on some occasions, when he felt problems had been identified.
In 1989, Bruce was invited to make a month-long lecture tour of the United States and Canada. His first engagement was in June addressing the American Breeders Majority Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the international need for greater emphasis on sire selection and sire appraisal. He followed this with talks to other farming groups and Artificial Insemination units in the US and Canada. He also carried out many speaking engagements around the UK covering cattle breeding topics and livestock appraisal.
In the 1990s, Bruce began working as a marketing consultant with Drew Sloan OBE, FRAgS and his cattle breeding company Semex UK – assisting with advertising, public relations and the annual International Dairy Conference held latterly in Glasgow. This was a pioneering event bringing some of the world’s best dairy farmers and breeding experts to the conference stage.
In 2007 Bruce became interested in establishing a Jersey breed genetics programme based in Quebec, and recruited Marie-Claire Girod of Jersey Quebec as an advisor. Ms Girod suggested dairy farmers Remi Guay and Renee Hamel as potential partners and Group Fleur-de-Lys began to take shape with the purchase of six month old heifer, Lencrest Iatola Fleur. In 2015 the partnership produced FDL Barcelona a bull that went on to be the leading genomic gLPI sire in Canada on four occasions. Barcelona’s semen has been marketed in Canada and internationally by the Semex Alliance.
Back on his home turf, Bruce’s writing career continued and he joined the Guild of Agricultural Journalists. In 2011 he was runner-up in the Guild’s Yara Journalism Awards for an article published in The Newcastle Journal, which the judges described as “a thought provoking piece on how the needs of modern food production, tourism and caring for the environment can be a difficult balance”.
Bruce met Helen Taylor from Amble in 1976 at a ball at Alnwick Castle, which is now famous as one of the Harry Potter film sets. Friends of the couple remark that there must have been magic in the air at Alnwick long before it became famous as “Hogwarts”, because Bruce and Helen married just four months after their first meeting. The couple were blessed with two sons, Ryan and Shaun.
Both boys worked initially in the family farming business. However, Bruce’s brother George passed away and the holding was sold in 2006. Bruce then turned to another one of his life-long passions – football – to develop a coaching business, Trident Soccer, alongside both his sons.
Established in 1995, Trident continues to work with schools, local football clubs and sporting organisations to ensure football in the north Northumberland region remains accessible, enjoyable, fun and inclusive for all. Thousands of children and young people have now been coached by Trident, including international women’s football star, Lucy Bronze, who attended Trident Soccer Academy in Alnwick as a youngster. She was later sponsored by the Jobson family to attend the University of North Carolina, which led to a scholarship for Lucy and the start of her highly successful sporting career.
Bruce was a proud Northumbrian, a life-long supporter of Newcastle United FC, and always very active in his local community: He served as Chairman of both Swarland FC and Amble FC, taking on coaching duties and well as team management. Through these clubs he helped hundreds of people to enjoy the experience of playing competitive football. He helped many other local sports clubs and events with their marketing and publicity on a pro bono basis – such as the Red Row Cricket Club, who held the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous cricket match in 2007, and the Alnwick Food Festival, to name just two.
Bruce and Ryan set up Bernicia Media in 2016 offering copywriting, marketing and photographic services and worked with a number of agricultural companies. Through social media platforms, he regularly published articles commenting on the current challenges facing the agricultural industry. Bruce was highly regarded within the halls of Westminster and was being considered for a role that would form the basis of agricultural policy in the lead up to the next General Election. He continued to write regularly for the national and regional farming press. He was also a contributor to GB News, being interviewed numerous times by Alistair Stewart and working with journalists Rachel Sweeney and Dougie Beattie to communicate the farming industry’s point of view, turning the spotlight on some of the forgotten issues affecting land-based industries. His last broadcast interview with GB News was on 3rd October 2025 on the topic of UK Food Inflation, and he also sent several video reports back to the UK from the Royal Canadian Winter Fair earlier this month (November).
Bruce had suffered some serious health issues over the past few years but had made a good recovery. He was visiting the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Canada when he was unfortunately taken ill and admitted to Sherbrooke Hospital in Montreal. He is survived by his wife, sons, daughter-in-law Natasha and grandsons Brodie and Bowie.
Written by Ryan Jobson and Pippa Sellwood, on behalf of the Jobson family
For more information, please contact:
Ryan Jobson: ryanjobson@aol.com 07714 211063
Pippa Sellwood: psellwood@aol.com 07767 387503
